Performance Improvement

The performance improvement experts at FTI Consulting provide a comprehensive suite of services that focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of business operations, enabling organisations to maximise financial value and competitive advantage. Using external comparators and deploying best practices, we implement initiatives that deliver reliable and sustainable improvements to earnings and cash flow.

Our team of experts develop and implement margin improvement, cash flow initiatives and cost reduction opportunities for companies across a wide range of industries. Our team is equally well able to develop and implement such plans for healthy companies as those suffering from stress or distress.

Our approach is centred on the identification and delivery of sustainable benefits, and our team helps clients drive operational change within their business. Typical areas of focus include:

Identification and implementation of EBITDA and cash improvement initiatives

Working capital improvement plans

Assessment of cost reduction opportunities including outsourcing and shared services options and the right-sizing of overheads

While our assignments are bespoke and tailored to fit each company’s unique circumstances, we typically adopt a two-phase approach to our assignments. The first phase, a rapid diagnostic phase performed over a one- to three-week period, seeks to identify, quantify and prioritise opportunities while the second phase, the implementation phase, focuses on accelerated delivery of the identified opportunities.

Within the EMEA region and beyond, our team has an impressive track record of identifying and supporting the successful delivery of operational improvement opportunities across a range of industries.

Our team has considerable experience leading and implementing projects that unlock cash tied up in working capital to either reduce funding requirements or exploit investment opportunities.

We advise and assist management teams in implementing actions to embed sustainable cash flow and working capital improvements while ensuring ownership remains within the business so that benefits are sustained post-completion of the project.

In our experience, cash and working capital management is not just a “finance” issue, but requires involvement from across the business, for example sales forecasting and production planning to implement improvement initiatives.

Key processes we focus on as sources of working capital improvement are:

Supply chain typically accounts for the vast majority of costs to a business; therefore efficiency improvements to the supply chain can deliver meaningful benefits to overall profitability and can create significant commercial advantage.

Our team focuses on implementing systems and processes to improve the contribution the supply chain makes to the overall profitability of a business. Typical areas of focus are:

Our post-merger integration services provide clients with the advice and tools to successfully integrate an acquired business and to create and capture value from a transaction. In our experience, clear strategic objectives, detailed implementation plans, effective communications and a structured and disciplined approach are all prerequisites to delivering maximum value from integration.

Our team helps clients determine the optimal way to separate part of a business or dispose of an entity from a group of companies. We provide operational and financial analysis expertise coupled with programme management skills to support our clients in maximising value from a carve-out.

Our team assists vendors’ clients in preparing for and implementing for a sale via:

Creation of separation plans that are capable of standing up to third-party diligence, incorporating:

Development of a stand alone operating model for the carve-out entity

Identification of intercompany dependencies

Development and implementation of transitional services agreements between the vendor and carve-out entity

Preparation of carve-out financial statements, taking into account the optimum way these statements should be presented

Development of a clear financial plan of how the remaining business will operate after divestment

Our team has a breadth of carve-out experience to ensure “Day 1” risks are managed, thereby minimising business disruption and allowing management to focus on business as usual.

Our team understands both buyer and seller perspectives and are equally well placed to review management’s separation plans on behalf of potential buyers Our carve-out diligence services assess the robustness of management’s separation plans including “Day 1” readiness and transitional arrangements on behalf of potential buyers. For further details on our due diligence services, please see the attached links Operational Due Diligence and Financial Due Diligence.

We place a high priority on dedicating teams of professionals who have served together on multiple engagements and have industry-specific experience to ensure quick understanding of the operational, competitive and regulatory landscape.